


Batteries

by TheMadKatter13



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Gen, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Robot Companion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 10:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1043590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadKatter13/pseuds/TheMadKatter13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elderly Sophie is gifted a robotic companion who gains an unexpected view on human biology.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batteries

**Author's Note:**

> When I found [‘Changing Batteries - The Saddest Story 3D Animation’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_yVo3YOfqQ), I thought this was how it was going to end. When it didn't do that, I did.

“Mom! Are you home?”

“In here, dear!”

Molly rounded the corner into the kitchen to find her elderly mother standing precariously on a stool, trying to change the lightbulb.

“Mother!” she cried, rushing forward.

“Could you hand me that light bulb, dear? I forgot to put it in my apron pocket before I got up here.”  
  
“Mom, I’ll change the light! Get down before you hurt yourself!” The young mortician rushed over, wrapping one arm around her mother’s waist and holding the other hand out to help her down, tutting in disapproval. Sophie chuckled but let herself be helped down anyway.

“Molly?” a new voice cried out from the apartment’s foyer.

“We’re in the kitchen!”

As Molly stepped up on the stepladder with the spare bulb in hand, her husband Greg rounded the corner, the child-sized rectangular box they had brought with balanced precariously in his arms.

“Hey, Sophie. How are you?” he greeted, carefully setting the package on the floor before leaning in to press a kiss to his mother-in-law’s cheek. The woman laughed easily, pressing a kiss to his cheek in return.

“I am doing well, Gregory. Thank you. Now, what’s this then?”

**.oOo.**

Molly and Gregory had left but the child-sized robot they had purchased her remained in her kitchen. All she had to do was turn it on.

Sophie continued to stare it down. It was true she needed a hand around the house what with her William gone and buried, but she had resisted this fad of robotic housekeepers for several years and hadn’t pictured herself caving. But if someone else purchased one for her, did it really count? The last thing she wanted to do was waste her daughter’s money and Molly had already made it clear that she would under no circumstances be taking back the gift. With a sigh of consternation, she pressed the Power button.

The robot had no mouth but it had a black plate where a human’s eyes would go and it lit up.

-NAME?-

“My name is Sophie. But I will call you Sam.”

**.oOo.**

Sophie and Sam grew into an easy partnership. He accepted any request she asked of him without a word of complaint. In the evenings, they would settle down to watch the telly together, or to read books. Most of the books she had laying around were books from her old nursing days, and some from when Molly had been in uni and still living at home. He was quickly gaining a personality of his own, going as far to initiate conversations himself. She was happy. Well, happier than she had been since William’s death, at least.

Then, one day, as they were speaking--well, as Sophie was speaking and Sam was displaying--the lights on his display flickered and then died entirely.

“Sam?” He didn’t respond. She pressed the Power button. Nothing happened. Worry set in. She called Molly. “Molly. I can’t get Sam to turn on.”

“When was the last time you changed his batteries, mom?”

“Batteries?”

Following her daughter’s direction, she found the batteries at the bottom of the box Sam had arrived in, safely stored in the closet. A small paper pamphlet attached to the battery even showed her how to change it, and within the hour, Sam’s display was blinking on.

-SOPHIE?-

“I’m so sorry, Sammy. I didn’t realize you needed batteries! But now that I know, I’ll make sure we don’t run out again.”

**.oOo.**

Time passed easily. As Molly and Greg prepared for their first child, Sophie’s health seemed to only deteriorate. But she couldn’t bother her daughter and son-in-law in such happy times so she didn’t mention it, simply spent more time in bed and began having her groceries delivered to the house. Sam fluttered about endlessly at her bedside, pulling books down from the shelves and displaying them in scrolling text across his screen.

As she settled into bed one night, she turned to look at the robot holding up the corner of her duvet, the very same robot that had been at her side for the past year.

“Thank you, Sam.” The robot’s head turned towards her. “I have never told you, but thank you for your companionship this last year. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.” She climbed into the bed and settled back amongst the pillows, smiling at her metal friend.

-YOU ARE WELCOME, SOPHIE.-

**.oOo.**

The clock read 09:00, the same time Sophie had asked Sam to wake her up every day. He turned towards her from his post next to the bedside table.

-SOPHIE. IT IS 09:00. IT IS TIME TO AWAKEN.- He reached out and tapped her shoulder. She did not respond. This was the first morning in 403 mornings she had not responded. He tapped her again. -SOPHIE.- No response. He searched his files. Sophie was exhibiting the same symptoms of a dead battery he had displayed day 98 of their partnership. He reviewed his files on humans. He needed to find Sophie a new battery.

The doorbell rang. He opened it as he did every 7 days to the human child called Chuck standing with the bag of Sophie’s groceries.

“Morning, Sam!” the human greeted.

-HELLO.-

He assessed the human’s importance. Age: inferior. Height: inferior. Weight: inferior. Remaining biological attachments: insufficient data. Occupation: superior. Files saved to memory: inferior. Within available data, the grocery delivery human was inferior. Conclusion: Chuck’s battery sufficient replacement for Sophie’s.

-COME IN.-

The human stepped inside and Sam closed the door. The texts Sophie had read to him had informed him one way to turn off a human was to turn the head greater than 70 degrees. He had never turned off a human before and the texts did not seem to have sufficient data to back up support exact number of degrees required. He turned it 75. Chuck’s Power turned off and he fell to the floor. Sam laid him flat in order to properly access the battery compartment.

Human design appeared to be inefficient as the battery compartment had to be cut open. The battery itself looked much like it did in the books, the colour and size comparable to the food ‘tomato’ that Sophie favoured, but it looked nothing like his own batteries. Texts indicated exchanges required speed. As fast as his transport would allow, Sam returned to Sophie’s side, opening her battery compartment and removing the dead battery. He placed the working one inside and waited for the wires to attach.

-SOPHIE?-

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought, good or bad, in the Comments, and if bad, please be constructive so that I may better my writing! :3 Also, if you liked the story enough to want to promote/rec it on tumblr, instead of creating a new post, please reblog [my original post](http://themadkatter13fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/91626545953/batteries)! Thank you so much! You are, of course, also more than welcome to follow me on tumblr as well! :3 Tschüß~


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